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Thursday, July 30, 2015

What's In A Name - Satin Doll & Co

Hi there! My name is Gaetana, and I'm the owner, CEO and Creative Director of SatinDollCo. You may be wondering how I came up with the name? No, it's not from the Duke Ellington song, "Satin Doll"! Let's give you a lil' back story...

About 10 or 11 years ago, when I graduated college, I knew I wanted to start my own company. So, I started the ground work to achieve my goal. Over the years my older sister and I had toyed with names. The first one she came up with used my nickname, Tana - she suggested "Simply Tana". This was okay, but didn't feel quite right and I couldn't think of anything for the life of me.

My middle name is Tiffany so I was thinking along the lines of Tiffany and Co. but that company name - of course - was already taken! In desperation, I looked up at my bookshelf, and this book popped out at me.

Satin Doll by Karen E. Quinones Miller

I have read Satin Doll a handful of times, and it is one of my favorites. It's about a woman named Regina who used to live a very wild lifestyle, was shot and left for dead. Eventually she goes college, becomes a journalist, and meets Charles who comes from a very prominent upper class black family. Regina battles to keep the new life she has built for herself, while trying to conceal her former life - including her two crazy friends. It's a good book overall and I highly recommend it.

Satin is a fabric, and a doll is an attractive woman, so "Satin Doll" seemed like a good name for my fashion design company. But, I thought, I can't use it because it's the name of a widely known song as well as the name of this book. Hmmm...

Then in a flash of inspiration, rather like "Tiffany and Co.", I simply added "& Co." to it, thus creating "Satin Doll & Co". I had already decided I didn't just want to design woman's clothing, but also accessories and so on. Here at last was a company name that could be home to many things, not just fashion clothing. And so Satin Doll & Co. was born!